Favorite Resources for Catholic Homeschoolers and others who "love to learn".

Elizabeth Hockel has been homeschooling for three years. She has a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Her children's ages are: 7, 5, 4, 2, 8 months, and #6 due next spring.
(as of ?1999)

Elizabeth has been homeschooling since 1987, when her oldest son came home after 6 weeks of parochial school. 2010 marks Elizabeth's 22nd year of homeschooling. Married to Raymond for 28 years, they have seven children ages 27, 25, 22, 18, 16, 12, and 9.

Presently residing in Wisconsin, they have also lived in Virginia, Tennessee, and various cities in Wisconsin.

Elizabeth received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in English, with an emphasis in creative writing, which means that she attended lots of poetry classes.

Elizabeth has been published in Faith and Family, mater et magistra, National Catholic Register, Canticle, Lay Witness, , and other Catholic and homeschool publications. She has compiled The Resource Guide for Catholic Home Educators--a booklet that lists various Catholic and other homeschool materials-- and edited a reading list of children's books about the American Revolution entitled Whigs and Tories.

Over the years, she has used a variety of homeschool materials. Her oldest was enrolled in kindergarten and high school 9th and 10th grade with Seton. He then finished 11th and 12th grade with Mother of Divine Grace School. The children are now enrolled in Mother of Divine Grace School, where Elizabeth is also a consultant.

When she began homeschooling, the number of resources available was very limited. Today, the choices can be overwhelming. With the help of this website, she hopes that it will be easier for you to choose the best materials that fit your child's learning style and your teaching style while remaining faithful to the Magisterium of the Church.

J.D. has been married 8 years now and has just started homeschooling this year. "We have 3 little girls ages 5 (turning 6 soon),3 (turning 4 soon) and 1 (turning 2 soon). My oldest is only in kindergarten so we haven't been all that strict this year with homeschooling. She is reading very well already and she seems to be a wiz in the math department too! We hope to homeschool through highschool but we'll see about that then! I am planning on creating my own curriculum right now because I seem to be using a lot of new things that people have not heard of yet. I use Laura Berquist and Marva Collins as my guides right now."
(as of ~2000)

Jeff Vehige (rhymes with “Peggy”) is a stay-at-home dad who is homeschooling his four children who range in age from newborn to seven. He went to public school his whole life, hated almost every minute of it, and upon graduation set out for Los Angeles to become a rock star. He did not succeed in this goal. Upon returning home, he began to participate in a young-adult parish Bible study where he not only developed a voracious interest in theology but also met his future wife. However, before he would pursue a degree or a relationship, he entered a monastery for a year to discern a vocation to the priesthood. Eventually, he would earn a B.A. and an M.A. in theology from the University of Dallas—a small Catholic liberal arts university in Irving, Texas—and marry his Bible-study sweetheart. His ultimate goal of earning a Ph.D. in theology and teaching on the college level fell by the wayside with the birth of his second child and only daughter. After enrolling his oldest son into kindergarten, he realized that in good conscience he could not send his children to public school without first trying to homeschool them. Though the first year was difficult, he has settled into the role as his children’s private tutor and, much to his surprise, has found in it great delight and fulfillment

You can read what he thinks about the Church, literature, and contemporary culture at a team blog, Thursday Night Gumbo.

John Van Hecke, Alicia's husband, is a graduate of a college-prep high school with an excellent academic reputation and also received his B.A. in Liberal Arts from Thomas Aquinas College. His parents are involved in Catholic radio and his brother Michael is president of the Catholic Textbook Project. John went on to receive a degree in Electrical Engineering, from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. He works as an electrical engineer, designing touch screen monitors. An important part of his daily routine is prayer time and story time with the children before bed. They have enjoyed reading Greek Myths, the Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, tales of adventure, saint stories and lots of other good reading. John and Alicia have been home-educating their six children (ages 14, 12, 10, 8, 6 and 4) since birth. They reside in Wisconsin.